


Catch My Breath

by rebiTV



Series: Hotel Hopping [1]
Category: Marble Hornets
Genre: Canon Compliant, Developing Relationship, M/M, Panic Attack, Pre-Slash, Sharing a Bed, these boys have the emotional intelligence of a potted plant but they're trying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-18
Updated: 2019-04-18
Packaged: 2020-01-15 19:36:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18505669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rebiTV/pseuds/rebiTV
Summary: Something is found in the gaps between panic. (Or: Jay and Tim put themselves together in a hotel room.)





	Catch My Breath

**Author's Note:**

> Jam owns my heart forever and always. I've already planned more fics for MH than I have any other fandom. Hope you enjoy!

It was bad.  It had been bad for nearly a year since this thing started. It was bad before too, Tim thought, but in a subtler, more manageable way. Not like this, fear pitched in adrenaline crashing into exhaustion. 

They’d stumbled back into their hotel room. Their immediate danger was gone, but they gasped against each other, the idea of safety an impossibility. Jay crashed onto the bed, pulling his knees to his chest. There was nowhere for the adrenaline to go, so he shook, gasping, like a man being electrocuted. Tim sat down heavily next to him, his own nervous energy cooling into a dull numbness. He looked over at Jay, out of his depth, no clue how to proceed. If he touched him, just a little...grazed his knee, put a hand on his shoulder, would that help, or make things worse? Somewhere in an undercurrent of his brain, Tim knew he needed the contact, needed to be reassured of - something.

The silence held them like hostages, until Jay turned to him, eyes blown wide - and choked out a plea of gasps and dry sobs. Tim turned towards him, put a hand on his shoulder, and Jay collapsed into him like he was trying to break him open. 

Jay‘s breath came out in stuttering gasps - a song knocked off key, and his nails dug into Tim’s back, almost painful. Tim is unused and ill equipped for giving comfort - too used to solitude, and after he met Brian, too often the one in Jay’s place. 

Tim moved his hands aimlessly, without direction, touching Jay’s shoulder, his hair. Jay just pushed into him, his panic desperate and non-judgemental. After some time, a minute maybe, or a year, Jay’s breath started to even out - the fear receding though not fading. They just sit for a long time, branches tapping out an aimless melody on the hotel window, shuddering together, until eventually Jay’s breathing evened out into something more manageable. 

Jay pulled away, only slightly, looking up at Tim with large wet eyes. He took huge, slow breaths, his chest expanding and contracting like a pulsing heart beat. His hands fluttered and he started to say something, but stopped before the word was fully formed. Tim knew the feeling. Jay scooted back, and Tim immediately felt colder. The frigid silence sunk back in, but this time both of them had unformed words lodged in their throats. 

There was an awful beat where Tim thought the silence might last forever, before Jay seemed to make a snap decision, and reached for Tim’s sleeve.

“C-can you - stay? Just for tonight. I-In the bed I mean. N-Not if you don’t want to though! Fuck, I mean-”

“Jay.” Tim cut him off before he could get derailed further, his expression caught between flustered and amused. “I’d like that.”

Jay looked back at him. His eyes were red-rimmed and he looked- grateful. Like Tim had just pulled his dog out of a burning building rather than just agreed to share the bed with him. Tim looked away quickly, his heart beating somewhere in his throat. 

Jay lied down, shot him a nervous look, and Tim joined him, pulled the covers over both of them and decided to unpack whatever his feelings were at a later time.

Tim looked up at the ceiling, Jay’s fingers still brushing across his knuckles, and drifted into a dreamless sleep. 

**Author's Note:**

> Hey y'all! thanks for reading, this will be the first in a series of Marble Hornets fics all taking place in hotel rooms. Next one should be out soon!


End file.
